The Rasmussen Report: Methodology and Results

[Automatically extracted and translated] In August of the previous year, the USAEC published a draft reactor safety study under the code number WASH-1400 D, known as the 'Rasmussen Study'. The long-awaited study sparked a flood of discussions and comments, leaving no aspect of reactor safety untouched. It initiated a development that is far from complete and is likely to lead to a reorientation in overall safety thinking. The aim of the Rasmussen Study is to realistically determine the risk to the environment from the operation of nuclear power plants, with an emphasis on the word 'realistic'. Although there had been previous attempts to estimate the effects of a conceivable 'hypothetical' worst-case scenario, the results of these studies were difficult to interpret due to inadequate methodology, incomplete knowledge of the course of very severe accidents, and sometimes uncertain input data. Therefore, it is not surprising that opponents and proponents of nuclear energy drew very different conclusions from the same data.